


Rose Tyler and the Reptiles of Planet Earth

by livsagna



Series: Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-07 21:37:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15916752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livsagna/pseuds/livsagna
Summary: Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles, Book 1When the TARDIS deposits Rose and the Doctor in early 21st century London, near a series of murders under investigation by UNIT and Mickey Smith, what could possibly go wrong? A run-in with a peculiar old man leads Rose and the Doctor to believe this isn't just your everyday crime...





	1. Prologue

Jim McCreary was making his way home unusually late—or early, depending on your point of view—at 1:22 in the morning when he heard a shriek. His first instinct was to go see what was happening, as a shriek usually indicated danger. But McCreary was too old to be of any help, and self-preservation won out. The shriek continued—until it abruptly was no more. McCreary thought that was kind of odd. It was a brief shriek, and clearly one of terror. Not the kind of thing you’d expect to just stop, without warning or continuation.

His curiosity piqued, and McCreary ambled toward where the noise had come from, gripping his ‘Help, I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up’ button tightly. In case he fell and couldn’t get up. Or… Well, he didn’t want to imagine the alternative. He was old, yes, but he preferred to stay alive. He _had_ just joined a late-night bingo group for ‘adventurous oldies’ (which was why he was out late in the first place), and was rather excited about that. And thinking of the possibility of not existing gave him a stomachache. Or maybe that was from the milk he had at bingo. But then he rounded a corner, and what he saw jolted him from his thoughts and shocked him to his core…

A mysterious figure was standing over a body, shrouded in darkness, and cutting out chunks of it with a strange, silvery device that glowed in the black of the night. McCreary backed away, knocking over a can as he did so. _Clang_. The figure turned. But they weren’t your average person, McCreary noticed. It was hard to tell in the gloom, the only light coming from their device—it was a new moon that night. But their head, it was shaped wrong. And their skin seemed affected by some malady that made it all bumpy. With horror, McCreary realized they weren’t a person at all!

The alien—it had to be an alien, _everyone_ knew about the aliens nowadays—hissed, and McCreary turned and ran as fast as he could. “Not enough meat,” he thought he heard it say as he hobbled away. He hoped that meant it wouldn’t kill him. His hopes were fulfilled. Thank God for small mercies. Or, in this case, rather large ones.

McCreary made his way home, jumping at the slightest sound, and locked his door tightly behind him once there. He was tired, yes, but he didn’t sleep. He had a greater task ahead of him, and set out to find a pencil of suitable quality, and paper to match. He wouldn’t be sleeping for a long time, it seemed…


	2. Chapter 1

Rose Tyler loved travelling with the Doctor. She loved life on the TARDIS. She loved all of time and space. She even loved the danger they constantly found themselves in, the danger that followed the Doctor like a dark cloud. The oncoming storm. One might even go as far as to say she loved the Doctor. And though she wouldn’t admit it, not yet, she did.

Currently (though all time is relative, and ‘currently’ is just a construct and doesn’t really exist) the pair were debating where to go next.

“I want to see something marvelous,” Rose insisted.

“Oh,” the Doctor replied with one of his signature goofy grins, “Marvelous is everywhere. There’s entire worlds of marvelous.” He paused, as if his sentence were over, then added, “Galaxies, even,” as if it were an afterthought. Rose knew it wasn’t.

“Well then, what’s the most marvelous world you know?” Rose prompted, returning a grin of her own.

“Earth,” the Doctor said immediately, nodding as if he were agreeing with himself.

Rose inspected her fingernails as if she were bored. “Earth? That’s the best you’ve got? Come on, Doctor, give me something exciting! New! Planet of the… Swans!”

The Doctor snorted. “Swans? Rose Tyler, you never fail to astound me.”

Rose frowned. “Swans aren’t _that_ bad. One could probably even defeat a _Dalek_.” 

“You’re not wrong,” the Doctor muttered, but Rose didn’t hear him. She was walking around the TARDIS console, as if she were looking for something. She reached out to press a button, but the Doctor smacked her hand away. “Oi! Watch what you’re doing!”

“I was just looking,” Rose protested, ashamed. They both knew she was not ‘just looking.’ She ducked to another side of the console, then exclaimed, “I know! What’s that game you told me about?” she continued, faltering under the Doctor’s gaze. He could be quite intimidating at times. “The one where you press all the buttons?” she added.

“Reckless Randomizer?” he inquired.

“That’s it!” Rose shouted, startling the Doctor. “Do that! It’ll take us somewhere brilliant! Fantastic, even!” she added with a bright grin.

The Doctor couldn’t stop a grin from appearing on his face, nor did he want to. “Rose, you’re _fantastic_ ! Let’s do it.” But before he could press anything, the TARDIS’s scanner beeped. “Oh, _great_. Rose, could you see what that says?”

She took a look at the scanner. “It just says ‘Earth.’ And a picture of Earth. What did you do?”

“Nothing!” the Doctor insisted. “Hand that here.” Rose obliged, swinging the scanner around to the Doctor’s side of the console, then joining him. He tapped the screen a few times, and a new visual appeared. The scanner now showed a graph showing energy spikes, once a month, sustained for a few minutes at a time before dropping off. There would be nothing odd about energy, but it wasn’t the type of energy Earth was supposed to have for _ages_ , and the pattern was unusual too…

“What does it mean?” Rose asked, looking at the Doctor.

He shrugged. “Not a clue. Care to find out?” The Doctor extended a hand toward Rose. She gladly took it, and together they flipped the dematerialization lever. The TARDIS made its way into the Time Vortex, and all was well. For now…

\- - -

On Earth, Mickey Smith was about to do something he hadn’t done in a while. His hand hovered over the ENTER key, ready to access UNIT’s files. He had a hunch, and his hunches were often right. And if his hunch was right this time, that wouldn’t be good.

He pressed the key.

Once inside, Mickey did a quick search on what he was looking for, and found a plethora of files. He skimmed them, noting that they all said basically the same thing, and didn’t have much information. But one sentence stood out to him. “The murderer is likely extraterrestrial in origin,” he read aloud.

Jackie Tyler appeared in the doorway, as if Mickey had conjured her. “Extraterrestrial? Are you talking about Rose? Is Rose coming home?”

“I think she just might be,” Mickey told her, taking out his phone.

“And that awful Doctor, too? Oh, no, he is, isn’t he?” Jackie asked.

Mickey nodded as he dialed a familiar number. “I think he has to.” Jackie looked like she was about to speak, but Mickey interrupted. “They won’t be bringing trouble with them—I think it’s already here.”

\- - -

Back on the in-flight TARDIS, Rose’s phone rang. “I get reception in the Time Vortex itself?” she muttered, untwining her hand from the Doctor’s to check her pocket. She flipped her phone open and read the name on the screen, then answered. “Mickey!”


End file.
